Burnley News 24/7Writer: turfmanphil 
Date:Monday April 26 2010
Time: 6:55PM
UK time is: 10:00:03
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Rumour Mill-Weekend Shenanigans
The Clarets have been linked with a move for Wrexham Welsh Under 21 international, Neil Taylor. The 21 year old is a left-sided defender or midfielder who signed professionally for Wrexham in July 2007 after coming through their youth system.
He signed a contract extension in March 2008 keeping him at the Racecourse ground until 2010.
Most Clarets fans will be wondering though if a player plying his trade in the Conference could make the grade at Championship level.
In terms of players leaving Turf Moor, Clarets fans can only now wait and see who swoops in the summer to take our most valuable assets.
With Burnley now relegated to the Championship, we will be vulnerable to losing a number of key players. Barry Kilby is trying to make the right noises:
'I want to keep a strong as squad as possible to allow us to challenge again next. We don't have to sell players. Often in the past we have had to sell to balance the books and that is one big plus when we go into negotiations with players'
Fine words but when you know Chris Eagles will not want to play in the Championship and has already been getting the attention of other Premier League sides, you know it will be an uphill battle to keep such players.
Everton,Spurs and newly promoted, West Brom have all been linked with the former Manchester United midfielder. The Daily Mail now claims Owen Coyle is also targeting Chris Eagles as well as our top striker, Steven Fletcher.
Steven Fletcher appears to be another of our players catching the eye of Premier League managers. It is believed Bolton are prepared to offer the Clarets a pathetic £3 million for Fletcher, exactly the amount Owen Coyle paid Hibernian to bring the Scottish international to Turf Moor last summer.
Alan Nixon on Sunday though suggested Birmingham have also now entered the race with Alex Mcleish prepared to test the water with an initial £4 million bid.
Fletcher is one player who has not made any statements about his future in advance of the Clarets being relegated despite it being on the cards for some weeks now. It would be hard to imagine though, he would not be tempted to further his career in the top flight in Europe rather than risk his chances in the Championship.
If we are to lose our players, it would certainly be preferable to lose them to any club other than Bolton. I think Clarets fans have had enough of Coyle for one season
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Your Comments
I'll feel a lot more comfortable when we start being linked with players we know can do a job in the Championship!
turfmanphil
Eagles - If you want to go - please go. You have not consistently done enough to warrant a place in a Burnley side, if you think you can do better elsewhere - please do.
Claretdale
Agree with that 100% Dale.
VinRogue
I'd like to know who will be the manager in the Championship before we do anything after seeing Kilby interviews and comments coming from the Club Its in the balance whether Laws is going to be the manager. One player I'd like to see next season is Jack Cork but Its whether chelsea wants him to play in the Championship.
Fedupclaret
Agree 'Fedup', Jack Cork on loan for the season would be a cracking signing if we can get him. Just get the feeling that, as you suggest, Chelsea will want him to play Premier league where he hasnt looked out of his depth. Also agree that the comments from BK were far from confirming that Laws will remain as Burnley manager next season.
claretdale
You sure about that re Laws,Dale? "We will sit down at the end of the season and discuss Brian's plans and our plans," Kilby told BBC 5 Live.
"It's a two-way conversation but Brian is our manager and I've no plans to change that."
turfmanphil
Rumour has it that Laws had a clause in his contract that he had to get so many points in the Premier and he hasn't hit that yet! and could hinge on the last two games whether he could be released or not. It's the rumour going round here and since this is the rumour mill I thought I would through it in ;-)
8clarets8
Throw it in*
8clarets8
All I am basing my comments on Phil is what I saw in the interview with Barry Kilby on MOTD2. To my mind, if Barry was certain that Laws was to stay on as manager, he would have said as much last night. I think he gave the answer he did because their is still a decision to be made. I could of course be wrong :-)
claretdale
I hope you are right because I think Laws is in a precarious position. He will never be accepted by the fans unless we start going bananas next season and that surely is a big ask if his win ratio and performance at Shef Wed is owt to go by? Any bad run and it will be Cotts all over again and this time the gaffer wont even have any successful period behind him to argue his case
turfmanphil
Any bad run and it will be Cotts all over again - not sure what you mean by that Phil? As for Laws being in a precarious position, I do agree. I also agree that unless we start 'going bananas' and are in the top 4 or 5 ( Maybe even higher) in the early months of the season - some of our fans will simply never accept Laws. Still think it is harsh to compare this to any previous jobs he has had - He will have more resources at his disposal next season than he ever has before.
claretdale
Claretdale having more at your disposal don't make you a better manager if you look at laws career Its not good, and to give him 2-3 months to prove himself must tell you hat he's not the man for the job. This is a mirror situation of megson at bolton the fans don't want him but the chairman does Its all going to end in tears
Fedupclaret
Granada News has just been on and said Laws future will not be discussed until our next two games are over, strangely ties into that rumour I was on about earlier?
8clarets8
In moments of stress (watching us lose) I advocated that Laws should be sacked but now I think he should be given some time in the Championship to see what he can do. He wasn't my choice but I don't think Fergie could have kept us up if he had come in after Coyle left and chopping and changing managers has never worked anywhere. As for Eagles leaving - goodbye and goodluck. He isn't good enough - not for the Championship or the Premier League. I think Fletcher is a very good player (who could do with better finishing skills) but you can't keep players if they don't want to stay. Get 4 million from Birmingham and throw in Kevin Phillips.
ozjean
Fedup - No I am not saying that having more at your disposal will make Laws a better manager. I am simply saying I think it is a little harsh to keep talking about a 'poor' track record when he has had big financial constraints in all his previous posts. This season, probably for the first time in his managerial career, he will not be required to 'balance the books'. I do agree with the rest of your post though - I do think that Laws should be released at the end of the season.
Claretdale
I understand what you are saying ozjean but you have to look at laws signing of cort,now I know what everyone are going to say everybody can be a manager from the stands fair comment, If you saw MOTD two weeks ago the Tv pundits on the show Ex pros
were laughing at cort and saying how is he playing in the prem and we have another three years of cort. And one more thing while laws is still in charge cort name will be first on the team sheet and thats a major concern.
Fedupclaret
Feduo - I don't think in the Jan transfer window with days left before the deadline any Manager we brought in would have had a queue of Central Defenders banging at Burnleys door saying buy me...buy me...I want to play in the great Burnley defence of the last 18 months.....Laws had to try something and he did just that...but it was a gamble imo that maybe just like the vast majority ofCoyles signings (Guerro, Penny, Easton, Edgar, Eckersley etc) one for the future...lol
VinRogue
He might have had more defenders queuing at the door of higher quality had they been willing to give one or two of em more than the laughable £15k/week!!
turfmanphil
Dale, Laws won 30% ish of his games on a low budget at Championship level so hardly an ambitious endorsement that he was going to do anything in the Premier League and not one that gives you much confidence either now we are relegated. It's the club's bizarre statement for his appointment that bugs me. Will we be giving him a big budget or not next season now we are down and if so how is it relevant to have made that statement based on Dolittle & Spendnowts report? If he gets a low budget all we can expect is to win 30% of our games and finish midtable or worse. Crackers!!
turfmanphil
I don't blame Laws He did the best job he could do under the circumstances, agree with Tmp pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Kilby has to take alot of the blame if we had spent a bit more money got four or five decent players without breaking the Clubs back things could have been different. And has for manangers working with limited budgets you need to take a look at Eddie Howe (Bournmouth) in the last two years he's save the club and got promotion with a transfer embargo I know its only league two.
Fedupclaret
So some of our players think they are better than Championship, and should be plying their trade in the premier league. Lets be honest they may be good championship players, but by no means are they good premier league players.
sheclaret
Laughable 15k a week??? Seriously!!! Look at Hull, Look at Pompey. Both have far exceeded a 'sensible' wage budget - I am fairly confident that, barring a massive investment for them from somewhere, Burnley will be in a better position than those clubs in 9-12 months time. I dont disagree with the comment being bizarre and I have never said I do agree with it. I am simply saying that in all his previous managerial posts Brian Laws has been working with one of the lower budgets in the league - Next season, he will be working with one of the highest. If he remains in charge, this will be a new position for both him and Burnley.
Claretdale
No you are right, I am not laughing. Forget Hull & Pompey there are an irrelevance, look at the other seventeen that have stayed up. What salaries are the the players at West Ham, Wolves, Wigan and Bolton on? We are going to be paying them marvellous salaries next season by all accounts in the Championship; bloody great closing the door after the horse has bolted
turfmanphil
Why are we forgetting Hull and Pompey?
Claretdale
As I said elsewhere Dale, I do find it laughable actually that Portsmouth are held up as an example of what will happen to Burnley if we dare spend money we haven't got. They have spent what seven seasons in the top flight and only over stretched themselves when they decided to go for silverware. There is a world of difference between that and investing a modest amount of money on a couple of key players or so that could probably have kept us up and allowed us to reap £40 m plus increased revenue from gates of 21,000. We probably only needed to spend about £10 million on that and maybe only £3 million if the Directors had not taken their £7 million back from our promo money. That also would not have meant we would have done a Hull either since their debt is approaching £35 million. There's a happy medium somewhere but I am totally convinced we could have spent a bit more without risking the long term future of the club and some directors would have taken it
turfmanphil
I have to say I didn't read Kilby's statement as implying we are going to pay players more next year than this; merely that what's a measly PL salary is a good Champ one, and that our squad will likley be bigger than some in the lower tier (though probably smaller than Coyle had let it grow it). Meanwhile this is a sobering statement from today's beebwww... Hull City chairman Adam Pearson has admitted that it will be "difficult" to sell high earning members of the squad in the current financial climate... Pearson told BBC Look North: "It's a difficult time to move players and with the World Cup, it's tricky." Make of it what you will. We can play 'what if' all summer on here; but looking at where we are now and where we are going, it's probably a good thing that we don't HAVE TO sell just now. In this context, having a dozen out of contract can also be viewed as an opportunity.
Couch Potato
Of the £7 million that went back to directors, how much was (a) unavoidable due to one of Flood's businesses going into admin (b) unavoidable as a result of the death of Ray Griffiths? Does anyone outside the Board have these facts?
Couch Potato
So we really have gone down stronger then CP? (NOT!!) Difficult time to move players on? I bet Fletcher, Eagles, Mears, Nugent and the rest find it easy?
turfmanphil
According to the 08-09 Accounts, Kilby and 7 other directors had the right to claim £7m loans back which suggests it was not all down to Flood's problems. I am going to have a look more closely at the accounts and see if there are any clues ie something more specific
turfmanphil
Yes we are stronger (Yes!!) , we would'nt have afforded to sign , Fletcher , Mears , Fox , Cort , ect without money from promotion , Eagles amongst others would have been sold , so we have a stronger squad and a better financial stucture to pay championship wages , we'd be even stronger if we had stayed up but we did'nt but we are stronger going down than we were before we came up !
We have no devine right to be a premier league club , we have league one facilities and a league one following !
bernie lee
And a League One mentality!
turfmanphil
How have we got a stronger squad? We have ten out of contract, including the aging Blake & Alexander? We have Nugent,Eagles, Mears & Fletcher probably going and maybe others. We have a sackload of first year young guns who are probably nowhere near ready to play in the Championship. let alone the Prem. Then we have Penny, Easton, Eckersley, Edgar, Kay, MacDonald who have hardly ever featured. How are we going to build a decent squad with just £12-£16 million parachute plus whatever we get for Eagles etc whilst paying them top salaries for the Championship? All this under a backdrop of reduced gate revenues and merchandising?
turfmanphil
Well that would balance up right then !
bernie lee
Blake & Alexander are indeed aging , maybe past their prime , if Eagles , Fletcher & Mears leave then they should fetch decent money which will be re-invested , we would hold out for a decent fee as we have no need to sell , the "sackload of young guns" are on low wages and are being brought along for the future , they dont have to be ready now , regards Easton, Eckersley, Edgar, Kay, MacDonald , now maybe the time for them ?
bernie lee
You stay bitter and twisted about this season tmp, I will remain happy to have had this season safe in the knowledge I dont have to gamble my own cash for the good of the supporters. If you keep banging on about it you will of course be the first official Vital Burnley Grumpy Old Man and my goodness you are coming close to winning it! lol You quote 12 players above of which 10 were brought in by Coyle and 2 were already here before Coyle.....so lets blame Laws for everything and of course the board....and lets continue to blame anyone until they are all lined up on Harry Potts Way....flogged and then shot for being failed Clarets....looking forward to the next two games and have my season ticket for next year and will not be returning it ...sad we got relegated by proud to be a claret. Keep the Faith UTC
VinRogue
The key word there is maybe! Can we afford maybe? I see another problem if we mean business too. Not only do we need Championship level players now of the right quality which will cost but to be honest those players will have to have the potential to play in the top flight unless our ambition is simply to be BOING BOING and not spend more when we go up to bring in the players to give us even the remotest chance of staying up. I will admit one thing though we really do need to see what happens between now and August before we can truly comment. I just think the task should not be underestimated and that this going down stronger statement at the moment could be challenged [Edited by turfmanphil]
turfmanphil
Quite happy to be the Grumpy Old Man. no problem whatsoever! If we weren't and I know Im not alone, forums would be hellishly boring with all of us congratulating failure
turfmanphil
We can disagree and debate all we want but I am sure we can all agree on the fact that many of us will still be season ticket holders no matter what league we are in, and for those due to their circumstances don't have a season ticket I am sure they will still be Burnley fans.
sheclaret
Are we stronger than a year ago? Flood's book says that if we had not won at Wembley we would have had to sell a number of players, and the accounts confirm this. Maybe we would by now be celebrating Championship survival just below Scunny? Maybe we'd have replaced Eagles, Pato, McCann and Elliott with some amazing young players we have never heard of and be Wembley-bound and cheerful? Maybe we'd be playing Plymouth and Southampton next season in League One? Maybe Coyle would be conducting a fire-sale at Celtic rather than explaing to Gartside why he bought Holden? Who knows? What has happened, has happened. As in anything in life, it's what you do next that counts; different peple reach that conclusion at different speeds, but as sheclaret suggests, we'll all be thinking that when, in the words of Stan that have been immortalised by Barnsey, the ball moves.
Couch Potato
I agree with the last bit and indeed will quote Stephen Cummings in his LT blog:
"Burnley are at a crossroads. For all sorts of reasons, the path they choose could define the next decade. "
I will also quote him on his perspective of the season which I wholeheartedly agree with:
"The tragedy is that it might have been so different. This has not been a vintage Premier League season. When mediocrities such as Birmingham, Sunderland and Blackburn are embedded comfortably in mid-table and sides as poor as Bolton, Wolves and West Ham will be hanging around the top flight in 2010/11, you know you must have performed pretty poorly to be visiting Fergie Jnr rather than his dad next season. "
turfmanphil
Seems to me that it always was the way that there have been mediocrities in the middle and a poor lot at the bottom! Or, I jest, was there a year that the poor won? Maybe we can get Mr Cummings to come on here and tell us how he has calculated that either this year's poor or middling lot are demonstrably worse than in previous seasons?
Couch Potato
Congratulating failure!!!!!!! Burnley FC 'failed' by being relegated from the Premier League in 2010. In 1987, Burnley were 'succesful' in avoiding relegation out of the football league on the very last day of the season. Surely that shows just how far we have come in a relatively short space of time and with very little money.
claretdale
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